Thankfully, Sucre proved less psychologically traumatic compared to our driving experience in Potosi. Despite the 1 hour it took to drive our last kilometer into the city, we parked in a centrally located campsite and spent 4 days visiting this beautiful colonial city. Sucre had the types of cafes, restaurants and shops that we had not seen since entering Bolivia. Our visit also coincided with the South American Junior Athletics Games, meaning that our sports-mad family got to attend athletics events (twice) and a volleyball final.
Descending into Cochabamba, located a mere 2,550m above sea level, felt like driving a fully-loaded race car (well maybe not quite so but you get my point). When I tapped on the accelerator, the campervan amazingly responded without a single complaint. What a joy!! We enjoyed Cochabamba, not as pretty a city as Sucre but full of amenities and things to do. The high-point of our visit (literally), was our hike to the “Cristo de la Concordia” statue, which was built between 1987-94 to mark the visit of Pope John Paul II. Similar to to Christ the Redeemer statues in Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon, this soars over the city and takes pride of place amongst locals. After seemingly endless steps in the midday sun, we were all equally delighted and exhausted to summit such a challenge.
Next stop was ToroToro National Park. Famed for it many dinosaur footprint remains which are still visible today, we also hugely enjoyed hikes through its spectacular canyons and caves. This is something that our family really loves, and always helps us to connect to each other and to nature. I am yet to explore the Grand Canyon, but ToroToro certainly served as a nice appetiser to any future visit.
Getting to La Paz was a bit of a Holy Grail for us. Knowing a couple of months previously that my parents would meet us there meant that we had to get a move on and arrive as advertised. The 500km last leg of this journey was the drive from ToroToro to the world’s highest capital city. Luckily for us we left ourselves plenty of time, as it was a full three days of windy and bumpy roads to get us there.
Driving in Bolivia with any vehicle is not to be taken lightly. Mountain passes, road conditions, altitudes and other drivers all present real challenges. Choosing to do it with a very well-travelled, 7m+ long house-on- wheels definitely adds a bit of spice to this recipe! However it is an experience I will look back on fondly, whenever the day comes that I am once-again meandering down a smooth motorway on cruise-control in my family saloon car…!!
Click here to read the “Back With A Bang (Part 1 of 2)💥” blog post
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